Anyone with a patio, terrace or garden in Spain has a narrow window over the coming days and to sort out a problem that tends to creep up between the summer heat and the autumn rains. With things slowly creeping towards wetter conditions, this dry spell could be one of the last decent chances to tackle the issue.

Why a splash of vinegar could save you hours of weeding

Ordinary household vinegar has become one of the go-to tricks for those with green fingers fancying themselves a bit of a gardener, without reaching for chemical sprays. Its usefulness has nothing to do with feeding plants or improving soil moisture. Acetic acid, the compound that gives vinegar its bite, damages plant tissue on contact, scorching leaves in a way that leaves weeds looking withered and dried out within a day or two.

Oregon State University’s Extension Service, a widely cited authority on home horticulture, confirms that this kind of treatment works on the foliage rather than the roots, and tends to be far more effective against young, recently sprouted weeds than established ones. Applying it on a dry day, before rain has a chance to wash it off the leaves, gives the acid longer to do its work.

Where should you be using this method

Patios, gravel paths and the gaps between paving stones are prime targets, as are the little tufts of weed that push up along the edges of terraces during Spain’s warmer months. Nobody is suggesting a general soaking of flowerbeds or lawns; this is a spot treatment, dabbed or sprayed directly onto unwanted growth rather than poured liberally around the garden.

A word of warning before you reach for the bottle

Confusing kitchen vinegar with a proper herbicide could leave you disappointed, or worse, with a ruined flowerbed. Standard cooking vinegar sits at roughly 5% acetic acid, whereas commercial horticultural versions can run at around 20%, four times stronger, and come with strict handling instructions. Oregon State’s experts are also clear that acetic acid cannot tell a dandelion from a prized rose bush, so overspray onto ornamentals, vegetables or grass you want to keep risks the same scorching effect.

Perennial weeds with deep roots, thistles and other stubborn regrowers, are especially likely to bounce back even after a good burning, since the treatment rarely reaches below the surface. Combining a vinegar spray with hand-pulling and a decent layer of mulch is the more reliable route for anyone determined to keep their outdoor space looking sharp before the rains return.

Spain’s traffic authority has packed motorways and A-roads with average speed cameras in recent years, yet one design quirk still lets some drivers drop out of the calculation altogether.

Cameras at each end of a measured stretch time number plates from point A to point B. Take an earlier slip road and the second photo never happens, so no average speed, and no automatic ticket, can be produced for that control. This appears to be an error on behalf of the designers of these speed traps.

In the UK, average speed cameras are generally laid out so there are are no exits to wipe the reading. Spain’s DGT system only completes the sum when the same plate is timed at both published ends. Cameras are not routinely fitted on every slip road in between. That looks like a layout mistake on longer motorway stretches, not a trick the DGT has endorsed.

How average speed cameras actually work

Infrared cameras sit at the start and the finish of a signed section. First gantry logs the plate and a GPS-synced time. Last gantry does the same. A central computer matches both readings and works out the mean speed. Pass both cameras in less time than the minimum time calculated for that distance and a fine is generated automatically.

Those cameras are not usually mounted on every intermediate exit. Without a matching exit stamp for the same plate, the system has nothing to compare it with. That is why a last-second dive off the motorway can wipe that particular average speed camera from the equation. Official DGT explainers already describe the two-point method; motoring reports this week have spelled out the consequence when drivers never reach the second gate.

This is not a green light to race. Fixed boxes, mobile units and Guardia Civil patrols still operate on the same roads. Reckless weaving at a junction can earn a separate fine. Treat the gap as a technical limit of one device, not a strategy.

How many of these sections are now on Spanish roads

DGT-run average speed cameras jumped from 92 in spring 2024 to 153. Add regional kits in Catalonia, the Basque Country and Navarra, plus big-city council devices, and the national total is 299. About 140 section cameras were installed between 2021 and 2026. Policy under Pere Navarro has favoured longer corridors so drivers have less room to sprint then brake.

Spain’s longest average speed test is on the CL-615 in Palencia, kilometre points 34.61 to 67.51 towards Guardo: 32.9 km limited to 90 km/h. Second is the A-68 between Cortes and Tudela, 30.5 km at 120 km/h. Another Palencia stretch on the CL-615 covers 23.1 km. Those distances make mid-section exits more common, and more relevant to how the maths works.

EWN has already mapped Spain’s longest average speed camera and the legal ways to check published DGT lists. Locations of fixed and section cameras are public; radar detectors and jammers are not.

What this means if you clock a gantry too late

Anyone who spots the first camera late and knows an exit sits before the finish may drop off the measured pair. That appears to be an oversight in how many of these kits were laid out: long motorway sections often have service roads and junctions between the two check points.

Do not bank on it. Extra cameras can be added at busy slip roads. Other offences still apply. Speed limits apply whether a computer is watching that exact stretch or not.

Fines for being over the average still run from €100 with no points for modest excesses up to €600 and six points for the worst cases. Section systems typically allow a 10 per cent tolerance when the speed is calculated.

Steady driving still beats a last-gasp slip-road scramble. Average speed cameras were built to stop that yo-yo habit. On some layouts, leaving before the last camera simply means that one system never finishes its sum.

Alberto Núñez Feijoo, leader of Spain’s main opposition party, used a packed rally in Badalona on Sunday to set out a harder, tighter immigration line, tying work, law-abiding behaviour and the Spanish passport to one another. He said Spain should welcome people who come for hard graft and obey the country’s rules, then slam the door on anyone arriving to break them.

His remarks landed as Ceuta is still dealing with the fallout from mass crossings earlier in the summer, a crisis with of the city’s new port camp and pressure for a royal visit. Feijoo is due in Ceuta on Monday with European People’s Party president Manfred Weber.

What was said in Badalona

Feijoo argued that a country with self-respect should be demanding of people born here and of those who move here. Nationality, he said, brings rights and duties. Recovering “the prestige of the Spanish passport” means reviewing how citizenship is granted, how it is kept, and how it can be lost.

He put the message in plain language. Spain, if he governs, would stay open to “hispanos” and to anyone arriving to work and respect the law. Those who come to dodge the rules would find the country “cerrada a cal y canto”, or “bolted shut”. He also called it a “sinsentido” that irregular entry can look easier than arriving with a job contract, and said public services cannot hold if people arrive without control while nationality is handed out on a mass scale.

That line builds on earlier PP ideas already reported by Euro Weekly News, including tighter residency rules and a harder approach to arraigo.

Law-abiding Brits already living in Spain legally are not the target of these pledges. Feijoo’s speech was aimed at irregular arrivals and at naturalised citizens who later commit serious crimes, not at residents who work, pay their way and keep to the rules.

Immigration plans point by point

• Run an ordered immigration policy rather than uncontrolled arrivals.

• Keep Spain open to people who come to work and follow the law, including Latin American arrivals he described as “hispanos”.

• Bolt the country shut to those who arrive irregularly or come to break the law.

• Make work the normal route in, so a contract is not harder than an irregular crossing.

• Strengthen border protection, with Ceuta used as the immediate example.

• Review how Spanish nationality is granted, kept and withdrawn.

• Strip nationality from naturalised citizens convicted of serious crimes, including gang membership, murder and repeat sexual assault.

• Treat the passport as something earned, not gifted.

He challenged critics directly: if anyone objects to taking nationality from a convicted killer, gang member or repeat sex attacker, they should explain why.

Why this matters now

The next general election in Spain is expected in 2027. Feijoo, beginning his electioneering, also used the rally to attack Pedro Sanchez’s government over Ceuta, budgets and taxes, promising a “limpieza total”  if his party, PP, returns to office.

For readers already in Spain, the practical point is the passport and residency test he wants to rewrite. Current nationality law is set out in the Spanish Civil Code on the official BOE site, and any withdrawal of citizenship would need a huge legal change, not just a speech.

Whether that package ever becomes law depends on an election Feijoo is openly inviting. For now, Badalona was the pitch: work and obey the law, or Spain stays locked.